Replaced Old English þolian, þrowian. Meaning "to meekly submit to hardship" is from late 13c. That of "to undergo" (distress, suffering, etc.) is mid-14c. Meaning "to tolerate, allow" something to occur or continue is recorded from mid-13c. Related: Suffered; suffering.

Example Sentences for suffered

He had suffered himself to regain something of his old cheerfulness of manner.

I have suffered much since your brother carried me to Birmingham.

I was very much exhausted, and suffered greatly from hunger.

She had suffered so much, so poignantly, that at last her emotions had grown sluggish.

For that very reason, she suffered much from a conscience newly clamorous.

It proclaimed undeniably the wrong under which she had suffered.

And at this time Shakespeare has suffered Herbert's betrayal.

What I suffered then, and still suffer, is not for pen to write or paper to record.

The Mantineans suffered severely in their retreat, but of the Argives only a few were slain.